Today With Sean O Rourke Tuesday 17 June 2014

Today with Sean O'Rourke

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Mary McAleese Comments

This October, there will be a synod of 150 Bishops in Rome to review the Catholic Church’s teaching on family life.

Yesterday, former president Mary McAleese described this plan by Pope Francis as ‘bonkers’ and that there was ‘just something profoundly wrong and skewed’ that male celibates should be involved in such a discussion.

Joining Sean was David Quinn of the Iona Institute and columnist for the Irish Independent and theologian Gina Menzies whose name, along with that of the former president, was submitted to the Vatican as possible advisors for a synod in 2015 for Irish group We Are Church.

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Iraq

To the worsening military situation in Iraq. The northern city of Tal Afar has fallen to the militants of ISIS, and this morning the BBC is reporting fighting for the city of Baquba just north of Baghdad.

As you heard in the bulletin President Obama has announced the deployment of 275 American troops to Iraq.

Meanwhile Iraq’s neighbour and ally Iran is sending crack troops to organise the counterattack against ISIS

Shashank Joshi is a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

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Ten Cities That Made an Empire

By Tristram Hunt (Allen Lane)

In the early twentieth century it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Yet since the 1920s when it reached its height, the Empire has been in decline. So what does the future hold for the British empire today and what role did Dublin play within it?

In Ten Cities that Made an Empire, Tristram Hunt seeks to explore the story of the British Empire through ten cities.

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Garda Memorial

It is estimated that 87 Gardaí have been killed since the foundation of the force. While collectively they are remembered at a Garden of Remembrance in Dublin Castle, one of the first Gardai killed in active duty was in danger of being forgotten until recently. Our reporter Brian O’Connell has the story.